Chapter 002: I'm Uncle, Not Dad.

After enjoying a meal at KFC, Li Guo called the landlady, who was also his older sister, of the little girl he referred to as "Little Sister." The landlady's voice over the phone was extremely sweet, and she reluctantly agreed to take care of Xiaoxin since Li Guo mentioned she had the day off. She mentioned that Xiaoxin was a pitiful child and so on.

Later, when Li Guo called again, the call was directly transferred to a middle-aged woman delivering boxed meals.

"Is she your real mom?" Li Guo put away his phone and handed a tissue to Xiaoxin, who was greedily licking her fingers. "Are you full?"

Although Xiaoxin was mischievous, she was indeed a well-behaved little girl. She looked at Li Guo pitifully and smacked her lips. "If you buy me a sundae, I'll call you 'Dad' in front of everyone."

Li Guo was taken aback for a moment, wiped Xiaoxin's oily face with a wet wipe, and widened his eyes curiously. "Why would you call me 'Dad'?"

"I'm so adorable, calling you 'Dad' would make everyone envy you. Mom said that men are all concerned about their reputation." Xiaoxin's voice had no disguise, and the people around, who were eating, burst into laughter.

Li Guo was left speechless by this mischievous little girl. He could only awkwardly turn his head and give a silly smile to the foodies around him. Then he got up and bought Xiaoxin a new sundae with a chocolate flavor, showing signs of being precocious.

"Thank you, Dad, but I think McDonald's sundaes taste better than KFC's." Xiaoxin continued eating without stopping her mouth. "If you go to McDonald's and buy me one, I'll generously sit on your neck."

Now, the people around who were eavesdropping on Li Guo and Xiaoxin's conversation were completely amused. One boy even went out of his way to buy a serving of fries and placed it on Li Guo's table, hoping to keep the two of them there for a while longer.

"If you keep making a fuss, I'll send you to kindergarten!" Li Guo was already dying of embarrassment. He could only pinch Xiaoxin's chubby cheeks and say, "Behave and finish your meal. Afterward, I still have things to take care of, and you can go home and watch Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf."

"So you're going to abandon me once you're done eating? Mom doesn't want me, and now you don't want me either. Poor Xiaoxin..." After hearing Li Guo's words, Xiaoxin pouted her small mouth, and tears welled up in her big eyes. Evidently, she was ready to cry and show Li Guo.

The crowd, who had been enjoying the spectacle, couldn't stand it anymore. They looked at Li Guo as if he were a class enemy. Everyone held their breath, waiting for Li Guo's response. Judging by their expressions, if Li Guo made Xiaoxin cry, they would swarm him.

"You're impressive, but you can't throw a tantrum, okay?" Li Guo reluctantly gave in to Xiaoxin's demands, feeling helpless.

Xiaoxin, with cream foam all over her mouth, kissed Li Guo and said, "Tonight, I'll let you hold me while sleeping!"

In the end, Li Guo escaped from the warm, bustling KFC in a very embarrassed state. Based on his intuition, if he didn't leave soon, those foodies might call the police or even take matters into their own hands. In the presence of a girl under the age of fifteen, no matter what kind of man, he would always be in a disadvantaged position.

Finally, Li Guo had no choice but to take the little girl and board a long-distance bus heading to his ancestral home.

Although it was a long journey, it only took three to five hours round trip. They went in the afternoon and would be able to return in time to watch the variety show. Moreover, Xiaoxin was truly an easygoing girl. She fell asleep in his arms without needing many instructions from Li Guo.

The long-distance bus eventually stopped in a small county town, which was Li Guo's hometown, a small county near Xi'an. Li Guo had rarely visited this place since his grandfather passed away. His family was located far south of the Yangtze River. If it weren't for the coincidence of him working in Xi'an, he might still be on some random green train.

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With Xiaoxin in tow, Li Guo made his way to the rural-urban fringe and, guided by the muddy local dialect, boarded a tricycle heading in a more remote direction.

Along the way, dust mixed with bits of soil and a chilly breeze numbed Li Guo's face. However, he wrapped Xiaoxin in a down jacket, leaving only her small head exposed.

"Where is this, Dad... Are you really going to sell Xiaoxin? Please, don't sell Xiaoxin." The expression on Xiaoxin's face was extremely horrified as she pleaded with Li Guo. "Or maybe when Xiaoxin grows up, she can marry you."

Li Guo shook his head helplessly. If he let this prematurely mature little girl continue talking, he didn't know what shocking words she might come up with. So he pointed outside and said, "This is Uncle Guo's hometown. I've come back for some business. I won't sell Xiaoxin."

Only then did Xiaoxin breathe a sigh of relief and spoke with a tone of faux world-weariness, "You adults are always using the threat of selling children and the big bad wolf to scare people, without any sincerity."

Li Guo's facial muscles had become stiff. He couldn't imagine what miraculous events had taken place in this little girl's life to enable her to speak such amusing words at the age of four.

After riding the tricycle for half an hour, Li Guo finally arrived at his destination: Li Family Village. About 90% of the residents here shared the surname Li, and 80% were related by blood or marriage. However, Li Guo's status within the family was unexpectedly high.

As soon as he entered the small village, Li Guo saw clusters of small villas. Shiny Chang'an cars were scattered throughout the villa area, and there were even more upscale Mercedes-Benz and BMW vehicles, along with numerous Chery QQ cars.

The security guard at the entrance was an old man who stopped Li Guo and asked him to register. "Li Family Village is now managed as an enterprise. Outsiders are not allowed to enter."

Li Guo glanced at the clusters of villas not far away and was genuinely surprised. When he left this place more than a decade ago, it was truly a small village, with chicken and duck droppings everywhere, flowers blooming, and lush green grass. But in the blink of an eye, this once impoverished place had even employed someone to guard the entrance using a Nokia N8, a symbol of high technology and wealth.

Seeing Li Guo's name on the registration form, the elderly gatekeeper plopped down on his rattan chair and immediately dialed a number using his N8, representing high-tech and affluence.

"Village Chief, we're back." The old man paused for a moment and carefully examined Li Guo. "That's right, it's our nephew. He has a birthmark on his head that looks like a dog gnawed on it."

Li Guo: "..."

"Dad, what's a birthmark that looks like a dog gnawed on it?" Xiaoxin, who heard the old man's words, tilted her small head and carefully observed Li Guo's face. "There are no dogs."

Li Guo squatted down and pushed aside the hair covering his forehead, revealing an irregular red birthmark. "This is the birthmark that looks like a dog gnawed on it..."

"But it looks like a crescent moon, not like it was gnawed by a dog." Xiaoxin corrected Li Guo earnestly. "It's very beautiful."

Li Guo coughed. "A celestial dog... a celestial dog."

While Li Guo was explaining what a celestial dog was and what the celestial dog eating the moon meant, a crimson Cadillac slowly drove out from the village and parked steadily next to Li Guo. Then, a well-dressed old man in his sixties or seventies jumped down from the car. After seeing Li Guo, he immediately kneeled with a thud.

"Uncle... Er Shuanzi pays his respects." The old man trembled as he knelt on the ground, showing utmost respect to Li Guo.

This completely shocked Li Guo. He hurriedly helped the old man up and patted off the dust on him. "You're going to shorten my life like this..."

Although Li Guo knew his status within the family was unexpectedly high, he never expected to receive such an extraordinary treatment upon their first meeting. After speaking, he remained awkwardly silent for a long time.

"As an elder, you deserve this gesture!" After the old man stood up, he took Li Guo into a luxury car he had never sat in before. "Uncle, have you come to retrieve something as our ancestors predicted?"

"Retrieve something? What should I retrieve?" Li Guo narrowed his eyes as he observed the old man. He remembered his grandfather telling him to come back but didn't mention anything about retrieving something, let alone the transformation of Li Family Village into what it had become.

The old man also squinted as he observed Li Guo. "Uncle, it's been many years. You've grown much taller and stronger."

Li Guo couldn't respond and could only nod silently. Those words felt awkward no matter how you looked at it, and the taste was simply unbearable.

The car cruised through the village at an almost leisurely speed of five kilometers per hour. Li Guo noticed that the village was eerily quiet, and apart from this car, there was not a soul in sight.

"On this day every year, the entire village shuts its doors and observes fasting and bathing." The old man spoke with great piety. "The ancestral shrine is ahead, and the things left behind by our ancestors are inside."

Li Guo was now in a state where he could hardly speak, much like Xiaoxin. The two of them spent their time exchanging gestures, trying to pass the time. Although Xiaoxin was mischievous, she appeared timid in front of strangers and didn't dare to say much.

Finally arriving at the legendary ancestral shrine, Li Guo finally recognized it. Except for being renovated, everything else was exactly the same as when he left—down to the swallow's nest that belonged to the mud swallow, still intact and stuck under the eaves.